Cap for bottles containing edible oil and other food liquids

ABSTRACT

Cap for bottles containing edible oil, which makes it possible to minimise the dimensions of the cap, with the advantages of reducing the weight and saving on raw materials that this involves, maintaining its high performance in terms of the safety, sealing and hygiene of the closure, comprising a body that consists of a sealing skirt that is attached to the neck of the container and a lid that is hinged to said sealing skirt, the skirt and the lid initially being joined by a plurality of sealing points, comprising a pourer that has a flat staggered section that rests on the edge of the neck of the container and a central lattice whose periphery is weakly joined to the body of the pourer, also comprising a sealing disc that is thermosealed to the pourer by the flat staggered section and the central lattice, said disc presenting a circumferential pre-cut line that is situated between the flat staggered area and the neck of the container.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a cap that is specially adapted for use in bottles containing food liquids such as edible oils, the contribution of which is that it consists of two pieces, the body and the pourer, which have been developed and designed according to the criterion of minimising the dimensions of the cap as much as possible, with the consequent advantages of reducing its weight and saving on raw materials and transport, among other factors, whilst maintaining the high performance of the means of safety, sealing and hygiene or asepsis of the closure.

The cap has been devised and developed so that both its fitting or attachment to the bottle, the neck of which has also been reduced in height, and the removal of the seal and consequent opening of the cap, is easy and requires minimal effort.

BRIEF DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART

Bottle caps are known in the state of the art, such as those disclosed in Spanish Patent No. ES 2137076 and in European Patent No. EP 685406, which consist of an outer body and an inner pourer, the first of which is divided into two parts, the skirt and the lid, joined by a detachable ring, which forms the safety seal, until the cap is opened by detaching said safety seal.

The main disadvantage presented by this type of cap is its considerable height and the fact that the outside of the bottle neck must present peripheral flanges on which to rest and secure the cap, the length of which is in accordance with that of said cap.

Caps wherein the closure is complemented by a sealing foil are also known, as in the case of European Patents No. EP 1080019 and No. EP 1080020, which disclose caps that consist of a pourer that is secured to the container and a lid that fully or partially protects the protruding part of the pourer, known as the pourer mouth, but with the particularity that the lid and the pourer are separate pieces, which are not joined by hinges or sealing links. The centre of the pourer presents a lattice that is weakly joined thereto, it being possible to detach said lattice by pulling a conventional ring pull that is joined thereto, bringing with it the part of the sealing disc that until then is heat-sealed to the neck of the container. The sealing disc is broken when the lattice is pulled by means of inner teeth formed on the pourer.

As has been said, in these caps disclosed in said European Patents both the pourer and the lid are separate pieces that are not joined together.

Within the same context is U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,618, wherein the body of the lid can be detached from the body of the cap and has a ring pull that pulls on a single-piece plastic disc, and with it the sealing disc. The body of the cap is of a considerable height, therefore involving a significant use of material due to the dimensions thereof.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cap that, whilst presenting all the sealing and tamper-proof characteristics offered by current caps, has been simplified and lightened in order to achieve additional advantages, such as a lighter weight and the consequent saving of raw materials, among other factors.

This cap consists of three components, specifically:

-   -   Body     -   Pourer     -   Sealing disc

The body of the cap consists of two parts made from the same material and in the same mould, which form a sealing ring that surrounds and is fixed to the neck of the container and a practicable lid that is hinged in relation to the sealing ring. The sealing ring and the lid are connected to each other by a butterfly-type hinge system and a plurality of sealing points, which are broken for the first and only time when the lid is opened.

The sealing ring, in turn, has a variable number of weakened notches or grooves that are preferably arranged vertically and parallel to one another, said grooves being made in the material of the sealing ring during injection moulding of the assembly consisting of said sealing ring and the practicable lid that is initially attached thereto. The weakened grooves of the sealing ring are designed to inform the user of any possible tampering with the cap, so that if anyone tried to separate the sealing ring from the neck of the container, one or more of the weakened grooves of said ring would break.

Therefore, according to the above, the body of the cap has two means of detecting possible tampering or interference with the cap, one consisting of the weakened grooves of the sealing ring and the other consisting of the links or sealing points that initially join the lid to the sealing ring.

To aid the separation of the lid from the sealing ring, i.e. to aid the opening and closure of the lid, it is provided with a horizontal projection in the form of a tab.

The other element that constitutes the cap is the pourer, the base of which presents a prominent circumferential lower rib that connects with another outer circumferential rib of the container, defining therebetween a firm connection of the pourer and the container. This type of connection means that the contact area between the cap and the neck of the container can be reduced considerably, so that the contact is limited, in this case, to the height of the sealing ring.

Above the joint area and, more specifically, in the area where the pourer and the front part of the neck of the container are aligned with each other, the pourer takes a flat form, which then extends to the pourer mouth, which, in the closed position, is inserted into a housing defined between a circumferential partition that emerges from the lower base of the lid and the inner wall of said lid. The pourer mouth and the lid are attached to each other using an adequate degree of pressure to achieve a sealed closure between the two parts.

A lattice with a ring pull extends from the flat part of the pourer. Said lattice is joined to the body of the pourer by weakened points, so that by pulling the ring pull it can be torn off, bringing with it the aforementioned lattice.

The third element of the cap consists of the sealing disc, which can be made from aluminium or from a multilayer complex of synthetic or other materials, in any case materials that can be thermosealed to the plastic material from which the pourer and the container are made. The sealing disc presents a circumferential pre-cut line to aid the tearing of the central part, as will be seen below.

Before the cap is attached to the container, the sealing disc is thermosealed to the pourer, said sealing disc covering both the flat part of the pourer and the central lattice. Said sealing disc, as has been said before, has a circumferential pre-cut line that is situated underneath the flat part of the pourer, i.e. outside the weakened links that join the lattice to the body of the pourer, all of which is designed to prevent the seal being impaired due to said pre-cut line, once the cap has been attached and thermosealed to the container, which could easily happen if said pre-cut line were aligned with the weakened links of the lattice or simply situated underneath it.

The cap is supplied to the user with the sealing disc thermosealed to the pourer and to its lattice. Once attached to the container, said disc is thermosealed to the front edge of the container, thereby completing the closure thereof.

Opening the cap involves the following operations:

Firstly, acting on the tab of the lid, which detaches it and breaks the sealing points that until then joined it to the sealing ring.

Then, the ring pull is pulled to tear off the central lattice of the pourer, which is separated from the body of the pourer by the weakened points provided for this purpose.

On pulling or tearing off the lattice, it brings with it the part of the sealing disc that until then was joined to the neck of the container, this tearing operation being aided by the pre-cut line in said sealing disc.

Once the cap has been opened for the first time and the sealing disc has been removed, the cap is sealed again by pressing the lid onto the pourer. This seal can be aided or increased by providing optional ribs or moulding on the contact areas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

To complement this description and in order to aid towards a better understanding of the invention's characteristics, there is a set of illustrative and non-limiting drawings integral to said description, which are as follows:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the body of the cap of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the pourer that is part of the cap of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the cap as a whole attached to the container.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the cross section shown in FIG. 3, in which the container is not shown, and where the off-centred situation of the circumferential pre-cut line of the sealing foil in the area where the ring is torn from the pourer can be seen in an enlarged detail.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-section of the container with the pourer joined thereto, with the cap in an open position and the lattice detached from the pourer, with part of the sealing disc adhered thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1, it can be observed that the cap (1) consists of the lid (2) and the sealing ring (3). The two bodies are joined by the conventional butterfly-type hinge (5), which is made from the same plastic material, the flexibility of which allows the lid (2) to be detached from the ring (3).

The sealing ring (3), as can be observed in FIG. 3, is attached to the neck of the container (14), for which the inner rib (15) of said ring (3) is retained by the first rib (16) of the neck of the container (14).

Returning to FIG. 1, it can be observed that the ring (3) includes weakened grooves (4), preferably arranged vertically and parallel to one another, which breaks one or more of the weakened grooves when the sealing ring is manipulated, providing evidence of the tampering or the attempt to tamper with the cap.

Initially, the lid is joined to the sealing disc by a number of links or sealing points (7). To open the lid (2), opposite the hinge (5) there is a tab (6) on the outer edge of the lid (2), which protrudes considerably so that it is convenient and simple to actuate with the action of a finger. When the lid (2) is first opened, the sealing points (7) are broken, which until then joined the lid to the sealing ring (3). These sealing points (7), which are made of the same plastic material as the cap during the injection process, present only a small resistance to tearing when the lid is opened, which would also provide clear evidence of any tampering with the cap if these weakened points were broken.

FIG. 2 shows the body of the pourer (8), which is a basically cylindrical body of revolution that is attached to the neck of the container by the connection between a circumferential inner rib (18) on the pourer and a circumferential outer rib (17) on the neck of the container (14). This connection of the pourer and the container can be seen more clearly in the cross section shown in FIG. 3.

In this central area of the body of the pourer (8), there is a lattice (8′) consisting of a ring (9) with arms (11), gaps (24) and a ring pull (12), this lattice being joined to the body of the pourer (8) by a weakened link (20).

The cap (1) is supplied with the pourer (8) attached to the body of the cap (1) and with the sealing disc thermosealed thereto, more specifically with the sealing disc thermosealed to the lattice (8′) of the pourer (8) and to the horizontal bend (22) situated above the connection area of the pourer and the neck of the container.

Two bends (13) project from said lattice (8′), extending in a ring pull (12). By pulling said ring pull (12) it can be torn and separated from the pourer by the weakened link (20).

Before it is attached to the pourer (8), the sealing disc (21) is provided with a circumferential pre-cut line (23) to aid its detachment and removal by the lattice (8′) once this is detached from the pourer (8) by pulling the ring pull (12).

FIG. 3 shows the cap (1) attached to the neck of the container (14) in a closed position. In this figure it can be observed that the sealing disc (21) is positioned between the neck of the container (14) and the flat bend (22) of the pourer (8) and thermosealed thereto.

FIG. 5 shows the lid (2) in a partially open position by rotation on the hinge (5). The lattice (8′) is detached and it can be observed that part of the sealing disc (21) is adhered thereto. The remains (22) of the sealing disc (21) remain between the pourer (8) and the neck of the container (14).

Once the cap has been opened for the first time and the central lattice of the pourer has been torn off, the lid is sealed by the contact between the pourer mouth (19) of the pourer (8) and a circumferential inner partition of the lid (2). This contact seal and pressure can be improved by using complementary ribs or mouldings on the parts that come into contact. 

1. Cap for bottles containing edible oil, which comprises A body including a sealing skirt that is attached to a neck of the container and a lid that is hinged to said sealing skirt, the skirt and the lid initially being joined by a plurality of sealing points A pourer that has a flat staggered section that rests on an edge of the neck of the container, and a central area, in the form of a lattice, a periphery of which is weakly joined to a body of the pourer A sealing disc or foil thermosealed to the pourer by the flat staggered section and the central lattice of the pourer, said disc presenting a circumferential pre-cut line that is situated between the flat staggered section and the neck of the container.
 2. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein the detachable central lattice of the pourer comprises a disc with arms and gaps, from the disc of which bends emerge to form a ring pull.
 3. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein the periphery of the lid of the body of the cap presents a tab for opening the lid, which is situated opposite an articulation hinge.
 4. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein sealing points are included between the lid and ring of the body of the cap, which are made of the same material as the cap.
 5. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein the sealing foil has a circumferential pre-cut line that is situated in a proximal area and is slightly off-centre in relation to a weakened area that joins the body of the pourer and a ring pull of said pourer.
 6. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein the sealing skirt has weakened notches or grooves that are arranged vertically and parallel to one another.
 7. Cap for bottles containing edible oil according to claim 1, wherein the pourer and the neck of the container are joined by the connection of complementary circumferential ribs provided thereon. 